It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who’s read my reviews that this season has been a disappointment to me as a fan of The 100. Among my biggest complaints were the character assassination of Bellamy during the middle of the season and of course, the removal of agency for so many of the main characters as they were taken in by the City of Light. But it wasn’t all bad and the season finale was actually quite exciting to watch, as the group of delinquents finally managed to succeed after episodes of failing to take down ALIE. While it took a long time to get here, the way the season ended was promising and proved that the writers still do know how to write this show in an engaging and captivating way, something they’ll hopefully manage to do more of next season.

Having spent the last three episodes implementing plan after plan only to be foiled at the last minute, the group had one last chance to stop ALIE in the season finale before all hope was lost. Naturally, it was our beloved leader Clarke who came up with the newest idea, as she decided to once again put herself at risk to save everyone. Her idea was to transfuse Ontari’s nightblood into herself and then take the AI, giving her the opportunity to stop ALIE. After having accepted the A.I., Clarke quickly realized that she too would need to enter the City of Light to actually find the kill switch and end ALIE — a sacrifice she was willing to make. With Abby’s help, who they had managed to extract the chip from, and Bellamy’s faith in her, Clarke took this big step, making her their last hope.

Problems arose once in the City of Light however, as Ontari’s body in real life began to fail and the protection that the A.I. gave Clarke also began failing because she wasn’t getting enough nightblood. Losing her invisibility to those in the City of the Light and losing steam herself because her normal blood was rejecting the A.I., it wasn’t looking good for Clarke. This was the perfect opportunity for the show to give closure to a fan favorite character by bringing back Lexa, who was connected to Clarke through the A.I., and have her fight off everyone in the City of Light until everyone in real life could figure out how to get Clarke going again. Seeing these two connect once again and allowing them to have a real goodbye was much needed for the show and it was fantastic to see Lexa have one last shining moment.

While all of this was happening, Raven and Monty were back still trying to figure out how to help from afar while also having to deal with Jasper. They managed to trap him, Monty going so far as to shoot Jasper in the leg in order to stop him from hurting Harper. With Jasper neutralized, they were able to focus on helping Clarke, and Raven played a big part in aiding our heroine once she realized that she was in the City of Light. It was Raven who gave Clarke the tool she needed to enter the room where the kill switch was located, proving herself once again to be one of the strongest characters on the show.

Once in the kill switch room, though, Clarke had a major choice to make. ALIE found her there and informed her that within six months, the Earth would no longer be inhabitable and the only hope for humanity's survival was to stay in the City of Light. Destroying her would destroy the human race eventually. ALIE’s creator was also in the room with them and explained to Clarke that ALIE has only simply been following her one core command — to make the human race happy. She truly believes that the City of Light is the only way to do this and would not ever give free will, the pain, and the memories back to the people there because she believes this is what’s best for them. For Clarke, it came down to deciding whether all that pain living in fear for their own lives would be worth it. Of course, she decided it was, having tried to run away from the pain in the past and not finding happiness by doing that. She finally succeeded in killing ALIE, releasing everyone from the City of Light, and putting an end to the frustrating storyline once and for all.

Where does this leave us going into next season? Many of the characters are going to have to deal with the horrible things they did while under ALIE’s influence — things that they will have trouble forgiving themselves for. This very well could bring Kane and Abby closer as they find forgiveness in each other. For Jasper, this is already starting to seem like a good thing, as it forced him to take a step back and realize that he’s been a jerk all season. We finally got a heartfelt and real apology from him to Monty, setting their important friendship back on track.

And as the season ended, one more surprise was in store for us, as Octavia — who had been working with Pike to save everyone — could not let go of the revenge she needed for Lincoln’s death and ended Pike’s life. She’ll have to struggle with this decision and more as we pick up again next season. Finally, everyone will need to come to terms with the fact that their lives are still in danger, once Clarke informs them that the Earth will be uninhabitable in just six months. With everyone in their right minds again and some of the nice character development in this last episode, I’m optimistic about where the show is going next season. Hopefully the writers will be able to return to the show we all fell in love with.